Download or read book Democratizing or Reconfiguring Predatory Autocracy Myths and Realities in Africa Today written by Tatah Mentan and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2009 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The celebrations that heralded democratic change in the 1990s in Africa have gradually faded into muffled cries of anger and attendant violence of despair. Almost everywhere on the continent so-called democratic leaders are openly subverting the people's will and disregarding national constitutions. Ordinary people find themselves removed from the centres of power, marginalized and reduced to helpless and hopeless onlookers as political leaders, their friends and families noisily enjoy the spoils of impunity. From Nigeria to Zimbabwe, Kenya to the Ivory Coast and Uganda to Cameroon, the writing is on the wall. The experiment with democracy has blatantly taken a dangerous nosedive. There is a crisis of honest, committed and democratic leadership, in spite of the advancements in education and intellectualism of the populace, and despite the influences of globalization and new understandings of governance. In this brief volume, Tatah Mentan makes an incisive diagnosis of how the "security forces" brutally crush protests against bids to stay in power through corrupt electoral practices as well as how opposition voices have been hunted down and crushed or intimidated into graveyard silence. This is a clarion call for Africans to embrace the values of People Power in synch with the dictates of the current global imperatives. There is no place for visionless leadership. Africans need to raise their voices to recapture their freedom.
Download or read book Challenges for the Democratisation Process in Tanzania written by Jonas Ewald and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2013-07-24 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tanzania has been independent in 2011 for 50 years. While most neighbouring states have gone through violent conflicts, Tanzania has managed to implement extensive reforms without armed political conflicts, Hence, Tanzania is an interesting case for Peace and Development research. This dissertation analyses the political development in Tanzania since the introduction of the multiparty system in 1992, with a focus on the challenges for the democratisation process in connection with the 2000 and 2005 elections. The question of to what extent Tanzania had moved towards a consolidation of democracy, is analysed by looking at nine different institutions of importance for democratisation grouped in four spheres: the state, the political, civil and economic society. Focus is on the development of the political society, and the role of the opposition in particular. The analysis is based on secondary and primary material collected between September 2000 to April 2010. The main conclusion is that even if the institutions of liberal democracy have gradually developed, in practice single-party rule has continued, manifested in the 2005 election when the CCM won 92% of seats. Despite impressive economic growth, poverty remains deep and has not been substantially reduced. On a theoretical level this brings the old debate between liberal and substantive democracy back to the fore. Neither the economic nor the political reforms have brought about a transformation of the political and economic system resulting in the poor majority gaining substantially more political influence and improved economic conditions. Hence, it is argued that the interface between the economic, political and administrative reforms has not been sufficiently considered in the liberal democratic tradition. Liberal democracy is necessary for a democratic development, but not sufficient for democracy to be consolidated. For that a substantive democratic development is necessary.
Download or read book Citizenship Democracies and Media Engagement among Emerging Economies and Marginalized Communities written by Emmanuel K. Ngwainmbi and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-09-18 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume analyzes the contexts in which emerging economies in Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America, the Middle East, and Asia can chart their socioeconomic futures through progressive democratic practices and media engagement. Using political and development communication, along with case studies from selected countries in these regions, the volume addresses human rights policies, diplomatic practices, democratization, good governance, identity politics, terrorism, collective action, gendered crimes, political psychology, and citizen journalism as paradigms for sustainable growth. Through practical experiences and field research in the selected countries, scholars show how personal and national freedoms as well as business deals have been negotiated in a bid to create a new socioeconomic culture within the nations.
Download or read book Laughing Store written by Linus Tongwo Asong and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2010 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Laughing Store is just what we need in times of troubles and uncertainties such as these. A book of humour from an acclaimed master of laughter, it lifts our hearts and raises our spirits. Jokes that touch about every domain of existence - from sex to religion, from births to deaths, from politics to the beer parlour, from the courtroom to the hospital. And most important of all, conceived in the supremely original Cameroonian flavour of jokes.
Download or read book Exhumed Tried and Hanged written by Charles Alobwede D'Epie and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2010 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exhumed, Tried and Hanged elucidates the abuse of folk good faith and ignorance by a conceited, ruthless and grasping leadership that sows carnage among the natives of Etambeng, culminating in unprecedented exodus, untold suffering and death of the people in neighbouring villages. Upon the death of the perpetrator the few returnees are made to listen to the gruesome stories of how the aggrieved children of his victims took revenge on his corpse.
Download or read book The Earth in Peril written by Colin Diyen Ayeah and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2010 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Colin Diyen's imaginary world of Mungongoh is an interesting one. There is the wrathful King Awobua whose lust for the earth is immeasurable. He intends to use the Institute of Research for the Development of Ideas (IRDI) where all the top brains in Mungongoh are concentrated to accomplish his wish of conquering the earth. This institution had surfaced with various diabolic ideas, hideous enough to make Lucifer jealous, but which apart from causing much sorrow on earth had never actually proved efficient enough to rid the earth of all mankind. The last great idea developed by the IRDI was a massive offensive against the earth, and this involved the use of every pestilence available and the neutron bomb. The book brings out strong positive points about the earth, as well as many negative aspects that if not corrected fast may take the earth down the drain.
Download or read book The Earth Mother written by Kehbuma Langmia and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2010-05-15 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fight against evil remains at the core of this play, pitting Kamsi and her supporters against a few daring councillors. Skilfully scripted by a renowned actor and playwright, this drama exposes the alliances and explosive tensions in Nyong village overwhelmed by unseen but supposedly harmful forces. Spiced with witty proverbs and humour, The Earth Mother will not fail to thrill its readers.
Download or read book Folktales from the Moose of Burkina Faso written by Alain-Joseph Sissao and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2010 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Moogo, the region of the Moose known as Mossi in ancient literatureóoccupies the entire central zone of Burkina Faso. It is divided into several kingdoms, the principal one comprising todayís capital of Ouagadougou. Along with the singing griots, the evening storytellers pass on the ancestral word during the evening gatherings where they provide the group with models to follow. The folktale is the most appropriate form for teaching young children to express themselves, to structure their thoughts, and to reason. The tales portraying familiar animals will be reserved for the group of youngest children. The legendary gluttony and foolishness of Mba-KatrÈ, the hyena, in contrast with the cunning and finesse of Mba-So'mba, the hare, will interest above all children from 10 to 12 years of age. The stories describing the origin of things, the reason for various social taboos, the legitimacy of social functions and structures, as well character flaws that need correcting, are reserved as a priority for adolescents.
Download or read book Forest Echoes written by Nol Alembong and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2010-03-01 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forest Echoes is a literary quilt revealing a mature poet bestriding generations as he patches together a people's culture, their philosophy, history, along with their attendant woes into a subtle, sometimes disillusioning even, yet purposeful and poignant whole. Nol Alembong is not afraid to be himself in this work: a scholar, teacher, parent, traditionalist and, above all, an Anglophone-Cameroonian. Whatever the case, these are magisterial and equally influential individual traits that have merged into a united whole in forging this poet's identity and concerns as evident from the thematic panorama of the poems. In "Forest Echoes", the title poem, for example, one encounters a poet who, though steeped in his people's struggles, has been able to stand back, watch and evaluate the effects of the interactions of time, events, and society. It is this ability of his, as an involved yet detached observer, along with the trend of events that have scarred his people's lives, which have yielded the powerful emotions that he has assembled in this thematically lush, historically nostalgic, and overwhelmingly evocative collection." - Dr. Emmanuel Fru Doh
Download or read book Africa Through Structuration Theory written by Elonga Mboyo and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2016-10-15 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite all the talk about African Renaissance, much of the continent is plagued by poverty and instability. To break out of that cycle, the guardians of African heritage (the old independence freedom fighters turned political leaders and their successors) and much of Afrocentric literature rightly promotes African ideas and solutions for African problems. While the idea in itself is noble, the danger is for Africa to close itself off and ignore outside technical and intellectual innovations that it desperately needs to advance further. Africa through Structuration Theory - ntujoins the discourse by attempting to restore intellectual freedom and convincingly defends structuration theory not only as the way forward for Africa but also as a legitimately African concept. It is innovative, refreshing and deserves to be heard across the world and appreciated especially by African graduates,current and futureleaders of various African institutions or businesses, non-Africans who might hesitate to refer to such a theory when trying to understand and deal with African problems and the wider public who constitute the audience for this book. New in this edition: All chapters have been tightened up to make a clearer and more robust case. Chapter three, in particular, has been developed further in an attempt to demonstrate how Ubuntu is an African version of structuration theory. Overall, having both approached the subject from a rational perspective and presented Ubuntu in its preferred version, it became imperative to discuss the status/role of the African body in the expression of human agency and characterise different leadership practices in Africa that do not necessarily reflect the ideals of Ubuntu. Hence, Chapter 6: Body sociology and Africa and Chapter 7: The FS (fear and self-scrutiny) methodology of Ubuntu: a mapping of the field.
Download or read book Africa Through Structuration Theory ntu written by Elonga Mboyo and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2015-06-16 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite all the talk about African renaissance, much of the continent is plagued by poverty and instability. To break out of that cycle, the guardians of African heritage (the old independence freedom fighters turned political leaders and their successors) and much of Afrocentric literature rightly promote African ideas and solutions for African problems. While the idea in itself is noble, the danger is for Africa to close itself off and ignore outside technical and intellectual innovations that it desperately needs to advance further. Africa through Structuration Theory - ntu joins the discourse by attempting to restore intellectual freedom and convincingly defends structuration theory not only as the way forward for Africa but also as a legitimate African concept. It is innovative, refreshing and deserves to be heard across the world and appreciated especially by African graduates, current and future leaders of various African institutions or businesses, non-Africans who might hesitate to refer to such a theory when trying to understand and deal with African problems and the wider public who constitute the audience for this book.
Download or read book I Spit on their Graves written by Godfrey B. Tangwa and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2010 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays collected in this volume are, by the depth of their analysis and the breath of their vision, indeed ëNo Trifling Matterí. They are a chronicle of the events in contemporary Cameroonian society, especially as concerns the conduct of public affairs therein. Over and above its relevance for our own time, this chronicle will, in the decades that lie ahead, serve as a rich source of information, opinion and comment which future generations, anxious to understand the making of an era whose impact, positive or negative, is destined to survive long after the longest-living of its principal actors and actresses shall have disappeared from the face of the Earth, will find a great benefit. Rotcod Gobata has, through these essays, lit and placed on a pedestal, a candle whose flame shall never die and whose glow shall serve as a beacon to guide and to inspire generations yet unborn.
Download or read book Osagyefo written by Linus Asong and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2010-05-01 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The personality of the highly charismatic foremost African Nationalist, Kwame Nkrumah as featured once in a while in Ghanaian fiction. For example, the celebrated Ghanaian novelist, Ayi Kwei Armah draws attention to the corrupt nature of the Nkrumah regime in his famous novel, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born. But this is by far the very first time that Kwame Nkrumah and his era have been made the main subject of a full-length novel.
Download or read book The Lady with the Sting written by Charles Alobwed'Epie and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2010-03-01 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Lady with the Sting is sequel to The Lady with a Beard. In the two novels Alobwed'Epie compares and contrasts the masculinity and femininity of the two heroines Emade, and her daughter Ntube. In the first novel, Emade shuns her sex and clinks to a false masculine mask. In spite of her achievements she fails to debunk the old system. In The Lady with the Sting, her daughter Ntube, a less charismatic heroine, allows nature take its course and in the end she seizes the opportunity the erring old system gives her and destroys it. Alobwed'Epie, author of The Death Certificate, The Lady with a Beard, The Day God Blinked, and The Bad Samaritan was born at Ngomboku in Kupe-Muanenguba Division, South-West Region, Cameroon. He studied at the Universities of Yaound and Leeds, and teaches Creative Writing at the University of Yaound 1, Cameroon.
Download or read book A Dictionary of Popular Bali Names written by John Koyela Fokwang and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2010 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Dictionary of Popular Bali Names is an exceptional minefield of Chamba names, meticulously assembled and expatiated for the curious user. As a pioneer in the field of dictionary-writing in the Cameroon grassfields, Fokwangís third edition counts for more than a regular dictionary. It skilfully combines a short history of the Chamba people in Cameroon as well as ethnographic issues on the naming ritual. John Fokwangís work stands in a class of its own and will serve as reference material for people of Chamba descent and those who favour the use of African names in general. This edition is an exceptionally worthy contribution to the ethnography of the Cameroon grassfields and of course, the growing literature and interest on African names and languages.
Download or read book Genuine Intellectuals Academic and Social Responsibilities of Universities in Africa written by Nsokika Fonlon and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2009-10-15 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, slim as it looks, took Bernard Nsokika Fonlon the best part of five laborious years to write 1965-9 inclusive. He writes: "I was penning away as students in France were up in arms against the academic Establishment, and their fury almost toppled a powerful, prestigious, political giant like General de Gaulle. In America students, arms in hand, besieged and stormed the buildings of the University Administration, others blew up lecture halls in Canada - the student revolt, a very saeva indignatio, was in paroxysm. But in England (save in the London School of Economics where students rioted for the lame reason that the College gate looked like that of a jail-house) all was calm..." Fonlon drew on these events to define the role of university education in this precious treasure of a book, which he dedicates to every African freshman and freshwoman. The book details his reflections and vision on the scientific and philosophical Nature, End and Purpose of university studies. He calls on African students to harness the Scientific Method in their quest for Truth, and to put the specialised knowledge they acquire to the benefit of the commonwealth first, then, to themselves. To do this effectively, universities must jealously protect academic freedom from all non-academic interferences. For any university that does not teach a student to think critically and in total freedom has taught him or her nothing of genuine worth. Universities are and must remain sacred places and spaces for the forging of genuine intellectuals imbued with skills and zeal to assume and promote social responsibilities with self abnegation.
Download or read book The State in Africa written by Tatah Mentan and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2010 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction -- Framing the problem of the state in Africa -- Historical and theoretical context -- The state in Africa in an era of capitalist globalization : a theoretical exploration -- Slavery and capitalist globalization -- Colonial globalization or the extension of European Westphalian state to Africa -- Decolonizing imperial state in Africa, 1945-60 : plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose -- African developmentalist/nationalist state? -- From welfare/developmentalist to neo-liberal nation state in Africa -- Neo-liberal assault on the state in Africa : roots of state weakness, failure and collapse -- The state in Africa and civil society in historical perspective -- Future of the state in Africa in an era of neoliberal globalization -- An African state is possible : looking back in order to look ahead.
